An Update

It's official. Classes, for me at least, are over for the summer. This worked out well because last week was Fiesta Week, and classes ended just in time for be to Fiesta most heartily.
In the weeks leading up to Fiesta I went around to several neighborhood watering holes to discuss the halting of the TABC sting operations and found that, of course, a majority of the patrons and bartenders were against the whole idea to begin with.
“It violates our rights,” said one, at the Blanco Tavern. She also went on to add that they’d had no stings there, nor had their business suffered any because of them.
At Whiskey Smiths Tavern, one patron said, “As long as someone isn’t causing trouble then… [TABC]… should have no reason to come in to bars and spy on people.” Another, said, “I’m not surprised that they stopped [the stings] right before Fiesta Week.”
So with a calm at last falling over drinking establishments in San Antonio, and the mad rush to close out the semester done, I set my sights to the two best things about this time of year: Fiesta Week and Spurs Playoff basketball.
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Spurs Advance to Round Two in 6

In two of the most thrilling match-ups in recent NBA history, the San Antonio Spurs met the Sacramento Kings in round one of the playoffs. Game one saw the Spurs blow-out the Kings 122-88, and, though game two was a little sticky at times, the Spurs were able to pull out a magnificent 128-119 victory in an edge of the seat overtime finale.
Then things got grim. Game three was a too-close-to-call see saw of a game, with the contenders going back and forth like a pick up game. As clock ticked down the last few seconds the 4th period, the Spurs drew a one point lead and regained possession to leave the Kings in desperate trouble. They received their game winning miracle with the aid of a bobbled Ginobli lay up. Kevin Martin recovered for the Kings and sank a deuce at the buzzer giving them the game at 94-93.
In game four the Spurs suffered a humiliating defeat at 102-84. It looked grim but most of us didn’t notice as it was the tail end of Fiesta week, by that point, and most of us had been partying for over a week.
For game five, however, the whole city took notice. Ginobili redeemed himself by scoring 27 points to help shut down the Kings 109-98. “They’ll loose the next one,” some said. “They want to win it here.”
This was not the case, however, as the Spurs shot down the Kings 105-83 in a slow to start game six. After a 4 day break, it seemed as though the two teams could not find their stride, amid a flurry of turnovers, missed shots and downright slapstick fall-downs and slip ups. For the first half it seemed like a repeat of game three, with each side going point for point. After the half, however, the Spurs cut loose, scoring a tremendous 23 point lead. With a couple of minutes left in regulation play, the disheartened denizens of Sacramento began the long walk of shame toward the doors and out to the parking lot, knowing that this was not their year.
During our own games we paid special attention to the Suns-Lakers match up. After winning game one Phoenix went on to do a spectacular thing. They lost the next three in a row, placing the seventh ranked Lakers up 3 games to 1 over the second ranked Suns.
“There’s no way they can come back from that kind of a deficit,’ someone told me. “The Lakers must really want it bad.”
I must admit to being taken completely by surprise by the sudden burst of energy from the Lakers. In a previous post I had predicted that they would go down to the Suns in game 5. For a few days there, it looked like Phoenix, who had worked hard to retain their top ranking, was going to get knocked out by the Lakers.
But then, just as things looked their darkest for them, the Suns did an equally spectacular thing. They went on to win the next three in a row to force a game seven. They tied it up and put the Lakers on the wire.

Suns Set the Lakers in 7, Golden Boy faces off “El Matador”

The night of game seven, we watched as L.A. Native, Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya, punished Nicaraguan loud mouth Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga in glorious hi-def big screen (“You can actually see the spit fly out of their mouths when they get hit!”). Upstairs, we had on the Suns-Lakers game. Every few moments someone would yell up “Score?” and we’d get an update. After the Suns had picked up a 25 point lead we stopped asking. We knew the Lakers had missed their last chance to come from behind this season.
Meanwhile, De La Hoya came out looking heavier and meaner than he ever has in any of his previous title fights. Mayorga had spent the last several months bad mouthing the Golden Boys career, wife, family, and Mexican-American Heritage.
The fighters came right at each other without the delicate finesse one sees in many title-fights. This was personal. In round 1 an unexpected left hook took a bewildered Mayorga right off his feet and down to the mat. After shaking it off, he continued his brawlers approach to the finely tuned De La Hoya. This technique was ineffective, as, toward the end of the round a pair of swift Golden Boy lefts staggered him again.
In rounds two and three De La Hoya continued to punish pummel Mayorga, gaining points with dazzling combinations that left Mayorga looking like a heavy bag with swinging arms. The real action came late in the sixth round when, after a solid punch by Mayorga, De La Hoya stepped in and delivered another blinding flash of jabs for another knockdown. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
He should have stayed down. After staggering to his feet, Oscar De La Hoya pressed the attack and hit an already confused Mayorga with at least 12 solid head shots, staying on the attack with a wild eyed delight, as the ref physically had to throw him to the mat to get him to stop. “El Matador” was finished and Oscar De La Hoya became the new WBC Champion.
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